


The Colors Of Choice

by raendown



Series: NarutoCouplesWeek2018 [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 00:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13846014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: In learning the meaning behind one of the festivals of Konoha, Sai discovers there is more meaning to Team 7 as well.





	The Colors Of Choice

Despite having lived in the village for his entire life, Sai had yet to learn the significance of all the myriad festivals and holidays that Konoha held each year. Growing up in ROOT meant that he had no need or curiosity for the different celebrations as he had never been a part of any nor did he think he ever would be. Only once he had been assigned to Team Seven did he realize how significant that gap in his knowledge was.

Like today as he strolled through the village, baffled by the pretty banners which blew in the wind, attached to small flagpoles outside of nearly every home. Every apartment building he passed was awash with a riot of clashing colors but no matter how he studied them he could find no pattern and the purpose of them continued to escape him. Were they meant to ward off evil spirits? Were they a beacon of some sort? He had no idea.

His confusion was an unbothered sort of emotion, however, when he knew that any questions he had would easily be answered the moment he arrived to the small house at the edge of town which was today’s destination. Yamato-taichou had asked him to arrive at 1 o’clock and if he slowed his pace just the smallest bit, he would arrive at exactly 1:03. Naruto had already lectured him several times about how creepy it was that he insisted on arriving to places exactly on time every time and, although Sai wasn’t sure why that was a bad thing, he was proud of himself for remembering to break that habit today.

When Yamato-taichou opened the door with a smile and let him in, Sai discovered that he was still the first to arrive despite his deliberately slower pace. Kakashi-senpai stood in the kitchen laying out a tea tray for the coming guests and he gave his signature two-fingered wave as Yamato-taichou led him in to the living room. Sai sat on the edge of the seat that he was led to, took stock of himself, and then rearranged his position in to something which Sakura had called ‘more casual’. He did have to admit that the position she showed him was much more comfortable than remaining bolt upright on the edge of his cushion. At least this way he got to take advantage of the back of the couch, softer than he had expected it to be.

His other two teammates arrived only a handful of minutes later and there were happy greetings all around as Naruto and Sakura settled down on to the sofa on either side of him, curling their legs up underneath themselves while Kakashi-senpai made his way around with the tray. Each of them accepted their cup of tea with slight trepidation; usually it was Yamato-taichou who took care of any business in the kitchen. Kakashi-senpai was famous for getting distracted by his beloved books and the results weren’t usually very edible.

Today, however, that didn’t seem to be the case. The tea had been brewed to perfection, each cup prepared from memory just the way each of them liked it. Sai knew that Naruto’s cup would have two cubes of sugar in it while Sakura’s would contain a single splash of milk, carefully measured. Apparently knowing small details like that about each other was important and he always made an effort to remember the important things.

“So,” he ventured once all the polite greeting rituals had been observed and the small talk had been completed, “what was the reason for you to call this team meeting?” He was unprepared for the rest of them to turn and look at him with light confusion on their features.

“Team meeting?” Yamato-taichou echoed him. Sai nodded.

“Yes. You called us all here and I wish to know the purpose of this meeting.”

“Oh Sai,” he heard Sakura murmur. A moment later he felt the weight of a pink head drop on to his shoulder and the sound of muffled giggling met his ears, though he wasn’t aware that he had done anything amusing.

The others were all looking at him with, if he was correct in his interpretation, a mixture of exasperation and fondness, perhaps a little sadness around the edges as well. Had he done something wrong in asking about the purpose of their meeting? Perhaps he had forgotten some social convention yet again, the ones which everyone else seemed to remember so easily that they often forgot that he didn’t.

Luckily, Kakashi-sempai came to his rescue without letting him spend much time worrying over the possibilities.

“I’m sure you noticed all the banners that have been put up around town.” He waited for Sai to nod. Of course he had noticed. It would take Naruto levels of obliviousness not to notice. “No one must have mentioned it to you but today is the Family Day Festival. Tell me, what banners have Tenzou and I hung outside our home?”

“Five banners,” Sai reported promptly. “Two large banners of green and red; below that, three medium sized banners of pink, black, and orange.”

“Good. Can you take a guess at what they represent?”

Sai hesitated. Noticing small details about his surroundings was something he excelled at but guessing at social connotations was not. He simply had no clue as to why Kakashi-senpai and Yamato-taichou would choose to hang such clashing colors outside of their residence. After giving himself a few moments to think about the puzzle he had been presented, Sai admitted defeat with a subtle shake of his head. Kakashi-senpai only smiled at him, soft in that very specific manner he only ever allowed himself to be when there was no one else present but the trusted members of their team.

“Green for Tenzou and red for myself. Pink for Sakura, orange for Naruto and the black is for you, Sai. Every year for the Family Day Festival it is tradition to celebrate the relationship between children and parents by hanging one flag for each of them and spending time together. We might not be related by blood but Team Seven has always been a family.”

“I am…a part of your family?” he dared to breath. The head on his shoulder lifted and made enough room for Sakura to poke him teasingly in the side, mindful of her own strength.

“Of course you are, dummy,” she mumbled.

“You’re a part of Team Seven, aren’t ya?” Naruto chimed in.

“We’re a scattered bunch of misfits,” Yamato-taichou spoke up. “And a lot of the time I wonder how the hell I got stuck with you lot. But Kakashi is right: this team is a family and I wouldn’t have it any other way, not even when you all drive me round the bend.” He finished speaking with a rueful grin.

As Sakura snuggled back in to his left side and Naruto landed a good-natured hit on his shoulder from the right, Sai sat very still and gave himself more time to let that sink in.

He’d never had a family before, despite the quietly blossoming yearning for one that he had begun to feel over the last few years. Ever since the day he had met these people it was as though his eyes had been opened to the real world around him and all the wonderful things awaiting him: friends and fun and emotions and colors and all sorts of twisted social rules that he was sure he would never get the hang of yet never tired of trying to unravel. These people were his entire world now and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for them.

Was that family? None of them were shy about admitting that they felt the same protective ownership of his own person. Sai looked down at his pale hands, folded around the mug of tea which had been made for him, and recalled an evening when all of them had sat out on the training field until long past midnight and Sakura had told him that he _belonged_ to them.

“I have a family,” he marveled.

“Feels weird, doesn’t it?” Kakashi-senpai chuckled.

“No,” Said disagreed. “It feels…it feels…I do not know how to describe it.”

Yamato-taichou sighed and leaned against Kakashi as he swirled the remains of his tea. “It feels like the hole in your chest that you barely even noticed was there is suddenly filled. It feels like your heart is full in a way you’ve never known and it chokes you and pushes against uncomfortable places but at the same time you never want it to stop. It feels like a place to come home to after a lifetime of drifting with nothing to hold you down.”

“Ah. Yes. That is…an apt description.” Said nodded, watching from the corner of his eye as Kakashi-senpai wound one of his arms around Yamato-taichou’s shoulders.

Of the five people in the room, only Sakura had any living blood relatives to speak of. It occurred to him so suddenly that he wondered why he had never thought of the connection before. He wasn’t the only one who had grown up without a family to guide him; he was just the only one who hadn’t realized that somewhere along the way he had found one without even looking.

Their team was made up of broken people, shinobi who had seen the worst of the system and the worst of the world, people who clung to each other with white knuckled grips in a blatant refusal to crumble under the pressures. And, as he understood the word, Sai loved them.

“I am proud to be a part of your family,” he told them honestly, hoping that the smile on his face looked as genuine as it felt.

“We’re glad to have you,” Yamato-taichou told him and Sai was pleased to note that he could tell his old team captain was being earnest in his sentiment. Naruto thumped him on the shoulder a second time.

“Of course we are, ‘ttebayo! Everyone in Team Seven is super important!”

A handful of years ago, Sai would have disagreed. He would have told them that he was but a tool in the hands of whomsoever should happen to wield him for the good of Konoha, and that each of them were nothing more than puppets dancing on the Hokage’s string, useless and weak.

Now he knew differently and in the wake of a statement which once he would have dismissed as unnecessarily emotional drivel, all Sai did was smile wider until it felt as though his cheeks would split open with the size of it.

“Yes. Important members of our family.”


End file.
